Dear Sir,
The May 8 Gulf Times editorial “The India democracy experience, no model for a modern world” is totally out of touch with reality. India has progressed tremendously in the last one decade, but serving a population 1bn-plus population is a tough task for any government. Corruption charges against some cabinet ministers have also sullied the image of the Congress party. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s intervention, the government’s tactics to deflect the allegations on many fronts have taken a beating.
I do admit that politicians offer various “sops’ to please the electorate before the elections but this is quite natural in any democracy when different parties vie for power.
India, it is true, has age-old problems like dowry deaths, female infanticide, etc. to tackle. Only education in the right earnest will help change the mindset of the people and bring about positive transformation. On that score, India has made vast progress too, though 100% success is still far off. But I strongly believe that barring the corruption charges , the youth of India are generally happy and this is the reason for the fizzling out of the so-called “peoples revolution” initiated by the Gandhian Anna Hazare.
The kind of revolution that has taken place in North Africa will never happen in India because it is a free and true democracy. Although there are shortcomings, people are generally happy with the state of affairs in India.
The country is witnessing the rise of a new breed of politicians who will take over the reins of the government, replacing the old guard. The poverty level has fallen drastically in the last two decades as per the latest World Bank report and more people are gradually and steadily moving from the category of “poor” to “lower middle class” and later to “middle class”.
To solve the multitude of problems of a billion people, speaking different languages and following varied cultures, is not easy, but it is gladdening to note that the country has made rapid strides in all the fields and I am sure we will be having honest and committed politicians to lead us to still better times after the present turbulence. The country is passing through a transitional phase. Although there are isolated incidents of crime, the safety level in the country is good and one can travel to any part of India without fear.
Mathew Simon
PO Box 18648
Doha
A political lesson
Dear Sir,
The limping BJP government in the southern Indian state of Karnataka has been crushed in the just-concluded state assembly elections. The writing on the wall had been quite apparent for BJP and the election outcome is no surprise for both political pundits and the common man.
BJP’s death knell was sounded on day one of its assuming power in 2008. The “Operation Lotus” for defection of legislators from the other parties, Reddy brothers’ rebellion, Yeddiyurappa’s arrogant style of governance, bribery and corruption charges against the chief minister and his colleagues, the spineless high-command attitude, resignation dramas and many more ills of the government had disillusioned the public.
The breaking away of Yeddiyurappa and Reddy brothers’ puppet Sriramulu has rubbed salt into BJP’s wound.
The Congress-led coalition government at the Centre, which is assailed by so many “scam-gates”, cannot claim this as a moral victory. It is only by default the Congress has returned to power in Karnataka. Neither the central government can brush aside the allegations of corruption against it nor slam the opposition to prove that their charges don’t hold water.
The outcome of the Karnataka assembly election has again proved that the common man is always the master in a democracy who has powers to elect the politicians of his choice to serve him.
H K Madhu
Doha
(e-mail address supplied)
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